CARLSBAD  Dejen Gebremeskel came to Carlsbad wanting to add his name to the Carlsbad 5000 record book.

“I wanted to make history for Carlsbad,” Gebremeskel said after becoming just the fourth man to become a three-time winner of the Carlsbad 5000. “This is one of the big races for 5K, so to win two times was big for me. And now to win again, it’s even bigger.”

While Gebremeskel, 23, was joining Steve Scott (1986-88), Sammy Kipketer (2000-02) and Dejene Berhanu (2003-05) as the only runners to win three times in the Elite Men’s Invitational, fellow Ethiopian Geleta Burka became the Elite Women’s champion in her Carlsbad debut. Just as Gebremeskel showed a strong kick to hold off John Kipkoech of Kenya and Yenew Alamirew of Ethiopia, Burka did the same to repel a pair of Kenyans hot on her heels, Mercy Cherono and Paskalia Kipkoech.

“This was my first time running Carlsbad, and the course was very nice,” said Burka, 27. “I had to run strong at the end, and I think I could come back here and set the world record.”

The invitational races capped a day that featured nearly 6,000 participants competing in various age-group and wheelchair classes in the 28th annual event.

The Men’s Invitational began with one of the slower paces in recent years as the pack went through the first mile in 4 minutes, 22 seconds. It wasn’t until after the second mile that Gebremeskel, Kipkoech and Alamirew separated themselves from the pack.

“Today was different for me,” said Gebremeskel, the silver medalist in the 5,000 meters last summer at the London Olympic Games. “Usually I follow some guys and kick the last 400 meters, but today the start was slower so after the first 2K I began to push. For the last 1K I needed to be by myself.”

Gebremeskel finished in 13:21, the slowest winning time here since 2008. Kipkoech finished second in 13:26 and Alamirew was one second behind Kipkoech in third.

“I tried to finish strong, but it was a bit windy out there,” said Kipkoech, 21.

Cracking the top five as the first American was Will Leer, originally from Minnesota and now residing in the Los Angeles area. Leer was a late entrant after one of the pre-race favorites, Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia, was a late scratch due to visa problems.

“To race with the likes of Olympians and international record-holders, you have to take that opportunity if you can get it,” said Leer, 27, whose fourth-place time was 13:36.

Leo Manzano, a silver medalist at the Olympics last year for the U.S., finished 13th of 13 elite men.

“After the first turnaround, I lost the pack,” said Manzano, of Austin, Texas. “And then with the hill and the wind coming back, it was like, oh boy. I just tried to gather myself from there.”

The top three females in the Elite Women’s race finished just two seconds apart, with Burka getting the nod in 15:26. That mark was the second-slowest time for the winning female since 1999.

“I am still coming back from a hamstring injury, so I know I can run stronger,” said Burka.

Brenda Martinez, the 2012 5th Avenue Mile champion who trains out of Big Bear, was the top American female in 15:44, good for fifth place. Natasha Labeaud, the only San Diego-area runner in the elite races, had an eighth-place finish in 16:18.

The men’s and women’s invitational champions each received $5,000.

Among the highlights in the age-group races was Christian Cushing-Murray of Santa Ana winning the Masters Men race for the fourth time in five years. Repeat winners included Roosevelt Cook of Hesperia, who won the Men 30-39 race for the third straight year; Dorota Gruca of Las Cruces, N.M., in the Masters Women race; Claire Rethmeier of San Marcos, who repeated as the Women 29-and-under champion; and Sandi Rush of Fallbrook, who was the top female finisher in the Wheelchair Invitational for the sixth straight year.